For graduate students, the end of the year can be particularly tight financially. Not only do we have to budget for the second round of student fees (didn’t we just pay those last month?), but with the winter holidays, many of us find ourselves trying to balance gift-giving to family, friends, and partners with our increasingly shrinking budgets.

Homemade gifts can be one way to work around the capitalist logic of gifting.

 

[Image Description: Michael Scott (Steve Carell) from the TV series The Office sits in his office wearing a Santa hat. Looking directly at the viewer, he says, “It’s like this tangible thing that you can point to and say, ‘Hey, man, I love you this many dollars worth.’”]

Pictured: Capitalist gifting logic...in a cool Santa hat

Below are some ideas for baked and crafted gifts with a grad student’s budget in mind. So roll up your California sweater sleeves, take stock of what supplies you already have hidden below those piles of bluebooks, and get ready to make some homemade gifts. Read on for recipes, instructions, and estimated costs for making your own bread, jam, succulent planters, bath bombs, and customized tile coasters.

Bonus: baking and crafting can also be excellent stress relief practices during the winter break research and writing grind.

 

[Image Description: Nadiya Hussain, a contestant on the TV show The Great British Baking Show, uses a wooden rolling pin to vigorously pound down a large slab of pastry dough.]

Pictured: You, gift-crafting and stress-relieving all at once. You're very talented.

Homemade Bread

Homemade bread is the second-best sort of loaf one could ask for - the first being, of course, a cat in loaf formation:

 

[Image Description: A striped gray cat sits, staring to the side and thinking “…” via an animated thought bubble. Text above the image reads: “Sitting in ‘cat loaf’ formation: Your cat tucks its paws underneath it because it feels content and safe, plus it keeps body heat from escaping.”]

Pictured: A loaf, suspicious of the other loaf you're about to gift to someone special

While cats win in cuteness, they are risky gifts that require significant time and expense commitments on the part of the recipient. Loaves of bread, on the other hand, are much more cost-effective and can be an easy and impressive gift. The recipes below don’t require a bread machine or electric mixer, so they’re well suited for first-time bakers. These breads are best gifted when fresh, so plan to bake them either the day before or the morning of the day you plan to bestow them to your loafed ones – er, loved ones.

 

[Image Description: Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, hosts of the TV show The Great British Baking Show, stand next to each other and together announce, “On your marks, get set, BAKE!”]

Pictured: The ideal mental pep talk as you start your bread making

 

Focaccia Bread

• Time Required: 2 hours (1 hour 40 minutes prep, including 1 hour to let the dough rise, plus 20 minutes to cook)
• Baking Equipment: 9 X 13 inch baking pan or baking dish (can buy limited use pans from the grocery store, or check thrift stores for baking pans/dishes), measuring cups and spoons, medium skillet, heating source, large bowl, cutting board and knife, kitchen towel, oven

Ingredients:

• Required Ingredients:
  • Extra virgin olive oil (1/2 cup) - $1.28
  • Black pepper (1/4 teaspoon) - $0.05
  • Warm water - $0.00
  • Active dry yeast (1 packet) - $0.19
  • Honey (1/4 teaspoon - can use sugar as a substitute) - $0.05
  • All-purpose flour (2 ½ cups plus extra for kneading the dough) - $0.38
  • Salt (1/2 teaspoon - recipe suggests fine sea salt but table salt would also work) - $0.05

Optional Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves - $0.16
• Fresh thyme (1 tablespoon) - $0.63 OR dried thyme (1 teaspoon) - $0.10
• Fresh rosemary (1 tablespoon) - $0.63 OR dried rosemary (1 teaspoon) - $0.10

Estimated Total Ingredient Cost: $2.00 without optional ingredients, $2.36 to $3.86 with all optional ingredients

To calculate ingredient costs, I used estimates from BudgetBytes which is also an amazing resource for cooking on a budget in general; for their no-knead but slightly more time-intensive focaccia bread recipe you can check here.

 

[Image Description: A five-panel comic by @adamtots titled, “This week on Bread Cops…” Panel 1: A loaf of bread with dark glasses says to an English muffin wearing a blue hat and smoking a cigarette, “Hey! Quit loafing around and help me look for clues! We’ve got a cereal killer on our hands, so we can’t leave any scone unturned!” Panel 2: English muffin: “Why don’tcha cut the crepe and tell me what we’re lookin’ for?” Bread loaf, crossing his arms: “That’s on a knead-to-know basis, buddy.” Panel 3: A photograph of a round bread loaf grimacing and holding a knife is laying on the ground. One of the bread cops (not pictured) says, “Wheat a minute! Look at this grainy photograph I found!” Panel 4: Holding the photograph, the muffin says, “Crumb to think of it, we’ve seen this seedy character before!” The bread loaf responds, “This guy’s gonna be toast!” Panel 5: With grimaces, clenched fists, and a baguette shaped like a gun, the two breads set off. Loaf: “Bready to roll?” Muffin: “Here goes muffin.”]

Pictured: The very serious business of bread

Banana Bread

• Time Required: 1 hour 5 minutes (including 10 minutes prep and 50-60 minutes to cook)
• Baking Equipment: 4 X 8 inch loaf pan, measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowl, fork, mixing spoon, pan or bowl for melting butter on the stovetop or in the microwave

Ingredients:

• Very ripe bananas (2 or 3) - $0.98
• Melted butter (1/3 cup) - $0.75
• Baking soda (1 teaspoon) - $0.04
• Salt (pinch: ¼ teaspoon or less) - $0.05
• Sugar (1/2 cup to 1 cup depending on desired sweetness) - $0.08 to $0.16
• One large egg - $0.16
• Vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) - $0.28
• All-purpose flour (1 ½ cups) - $0.33

Optionally, you can add up to one cup total of any of these additional ingredients:

• Chopped walnuts (1 cup) - $1.68 or pecans (1 cup) - $2.24
• Chocolate chips (1 cup) - $0.91
• Raisins (1 cup) - $0.62

Estimated Total Ingredient Cost: $2.67 to $2.75 without optional ingredients. After baking your bread(s), if you’d like you can add an extra touch by gift wrapping them.

 

[Image Description: Antoni Porowski from the TV series Queer Eye shrugs his shoulder and says, “Now we just have to, like, make it a little more chic.”]

Pictured: You, about to listen to Antoni because he knows best 

Once the bread has cooled, it’s recommended to first wrap the loaf in parchment paper (~$3.50 for a roll) rather than a plastic bag or plastic wrap, which can attract condensation and moisture. You can then wrap the parchment-paper-enclosed bread using gift wrap, plain brown paper (from paper bags), ribbons, or a small piece of fabric. Alternatively, you can buy baskets and colorful dish towels at a second-hand store or at a dollar store and use the dish towels to loosely wrap the bread.

 

Homemade Jam

Homemade jam is a relatively easy gift to make. If you’re making just one jar of jam as a present, this won’t be more cost effective than buying jam from the store. However, if you’re gifting multiple jars this could be a good option expense-wise, plus the homemade touch is sure to impress.

[Image Description: Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson/The Rock) in the movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle stands in a green field and gazes intently up at something off-screen as he holds his hand to his head and says, “Wow.”]

Pictured: Your friends and family's reaction after they see your homemade jam

Strawberry Jam

• Time Required: 40 minutes (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes to cook)
• Baking Equipment: Bowl, heavy-bottomed saucepan, ball jars with lids and rings (~$7/dozen), thermometer (optional)
• Equipment to Sterilize Jars:
  • Technique 1: soap, large pot to boil jars and lids, tongs to pull jars and lids out of hot water
  • Technique 2: soap, oven, baking pan, oven mitt

Ingredients:

• Fresh strawberries (2 pounds) - $5.98
• White sugar (4 cups) - $0.64
• Lemon juice (1/4 cup) - $1.50 (estimate for 2 lemons)

Estimated Total Ingredients Cost: $8.12

If you want to keep the jam for longer than two weeks, you’ll need to process it, which requires additional equipment. Otherwise, this recipe can be stored in the fridge as-is and should last for about two weeks. You can also halve this recipe to make less jam or substitute frozen fruit for fresh fruit. Consider exploring even more ideas for easy jam recipes using frozen or fresh strawberries, blueberries, or cranberries.

As a final optional step, you can make labels for your jam or even put small pieces of fabric over the lids. Then step back and admire your work, because that’s your jam.

 

[Image Description: Tiffany Vazquez, wearing glasses and a sweatshirt, smiles with her eyes closed as she sways back and forth, dancing with both arms loosely raised to either side.]

Pictured: You, when you admire your jam

 

Potted Succulents

Potted succulents are an easy and inexpensive gift idea that are perfect for a new or soon-to-be plant parent as they are also easy to keep alive – all they require is sunlight and very infrequent waterings.

[Image Description: On the righthand side of the gif, the plant from the film Little Shop of Horrors sits in the middle of the shop floor. The plant has lips and teeth, and is larger than Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), who is on the lefthand side of the image dressed in a suit. The plant opens its mouth as text at the bottom of the image reads, “Feed me.”]

Pictured: A man who wishes he'd been gifted a succulent 

If your intended gift-ee has pets, you can either check the ASPCA website or let them know it may be most suited for an office or outdoor situation. You will need:

• Containers or pots for the succulents
  • You can really use anything for this – I’ve used both small glass containers without holes (less than $1 at thrift stores), and terra cotta pots with holes (small sizes are about $1 each); as long as you don’t overwater, drainage should not be an issue
• Succulents - less than $1 each at garden centers or hardware stores
• Soil – around $5 for a small bag of cactus/succulent potting soil
• Small decorative rocks (optional)
• Trowel and garden gloves (both optional – you could also use a spoon and wash your hands post-planting)

 

[Image Description: A cycle of three images taken from directly above a small paper succulent planter sitting on the grass: the first shows the planter filled with potting soil, then with a succulent added, and finally with small rocks added around the succulent base.]

Pictured: A gift that keeps on giving 

Put some soil in your chosen container, place the succulent and roots on top of the soil, then fill the spaces around the succulent with soil until the succulent sits firmly in the container. You can add rocks on top of the visible soil if you’d like – and that’s it!

 

[Image Description: Alana and Lex LeBlanc from the TV show Listed Sisters sit in a grassy field as Lex shrugs and says, “Easy Peasy.”]

Pictured: You, after you finish potting that succulent 

Bath Bombs

Bath bombs can be an especially nice homemade gift for fellow grad students or anyone else who would appreciate the time to unwind with some soothing salts and aromatherapy.

[Image Description: A hedgehog floats on its back in a bathtub, rotating in a circle near a pink rubber duck.]

Pictured: How you imagine you'll relax once you get that bath bomb

• Time Required: 10 minutes to make, several hours to dry
• Equipment: large bowl, whisk, small jar or bowl, 12-18 silicone molds (typically used for ice cubes)

Ingredients:

• Baking soda (1 cup) - $0.45
• Epsom salt (4 oz or ½ cup) - $2.50 for a 1-pound bag
• Corn starch (1/2 cup) - $0.24
• Citric acid (4 oz or ½ cup) – about $3-$4 for a 7.5 oz container, usually found in the spice section
• Coconut oil, or any vegetable oil (2.5 tablespoons) - $0.15
• Water (1 tablespoon) - free

Optional ingredients:

• Biodegradable glitter or dried flower petals – glitter ranges from $2-$10; flower petals could be foraged for free
• Essential oil for scent (2 teaspoons) – typically $3-$5 for one bottle
• Food coloring (4-6 drops) - $2-$4 for a set of food coloring drops

Estimated Total Ingredient Cost: $7.34 without optional ingredients

 

Customized Tile Coasters

The last homemade gift idea on this list requires a bit more time and more involved steps than the previous suggestions. The link below provides step-by-step instructions for how to make customized, waterproofed tile coasters, although you could also skip the waterproofing steps and opt for tile coasters that may accumulate a bit of extra character, as the waterproofing adds a not-insignificant amount to the expense.

Instructions

• Equipment: paintbrush for spreading glue, pencil, craft knife, ruler
• Materials for Tiles:
  • 4-inch square ceramic tiles (4) - $0.15/tile, so $0.60 for four tiles
  • Mod Podge or other white craft glue - $4
  • Decoration for tiles (scrapbook paper, photos, pages from a book, sheet music – anything you can cut into 4-inch squares) – varies, possibly free depending on what you use

Materials for Sealing/Waterproofing Tiles:

• Varnish/Resin - $15
• Disposable plastic cups (2) – $3/pack of 50 cups
• Wooden stirring stick, like a popsicle or craft stick – under $2 for a bag

Estimated Total Materials Cost: $4.60 without waterproofing, $24.60 with waterproofing

With these homemade coasters, your friends and loved ones will have the perfect place to rest their glasses following all of the holiday toastings you'll have together.

 

[Image Description: Edy Rodriguez (Alfred Molina) in the movie Nothing Like the Holidays sits at a table and raises a glass as he says, “I’d like to propose a toast.” On the side of the frame, we see other glasses raised as well.]

Pictured: You, giving people reasons to use their new coasters

Hopefully, these suggestions helped to get the ideas flowing for some homemade gifts!